Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Daily Feed
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Oh hey, Brad Pitt

Photo courtesy of
‘Brad Pitt Posing’
courtesy of ‘KJB Photography’

Brangelina decends! Brad Pitt, reportedly here to discuss New Orleans reconstruction efforts with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi today, was spotted in Dirksen Senate Building near Senator Blanche Lincoln’s (D-AR) office. He met yesterday with energy secretary Stephen Chu. 

Angelina Jolie is here this week filming the the action-spy flick Salt.  Despite efforts at being low-key camera vans clogged up D St SW and Salt signs were posted on telephone poles — verrrry sneaky, guys.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Taco Bell: Too Thrifty

Photo courtesy of
‘Volcano Taco’
courtesy of ‘brunorepublic’

While I am all for thrifty dating, I have to draw the line somewhere. Specifically, that line is Taco Bell. I just want to go on the record as saying there is nothing romantic about Taco Bell. Fellow blogger KatieT claims that it’s perfectly acceptable once you’ve been together for a while, but not I. I don’t care how long you’ve been dating or how much you love the Bell; cheap, terrible, fake Mexican fast food is how you know the romance has died. And this? I really, truly hope nobody began a marriage that way.

Arlington, Fun & Games, The Daily Feed
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Show Me Your Poker Face

Photo courtesy of
‘Hustla Poker’
courtesy of ‘Funkman’

I’m pretty bad at poker. But then again, I’m not super good at card games in general, I’m better at say, oh, Apples to Apples or Balderdash. That said, I can respect a girl who can get down with poker.

If you are a woman with card skillz, or know of one, tell them to head on over to Restaurant 3 on March 22nd for ‘Chicks with Chips,’ a charitable women’s poker tournament and cocktail competition. The part that intrigues me? Local female mixologists from the likes of Tabard Inn, PS7’s and Ardour will be on hand to craft the perfect complement to your game. I can always get down with fearless female cocktail creators (how’d you like that alliteration!?).

Restaurant 3 is located in Clarendon and the tourney will take place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.  The play price is a bit steep, at  $65 per player, but proceeds from the tournament will benefit New Endeavors by Women, a charity that helps women take control of their lives and move out of homelessness, so you can feel good about that.

The Daily Feed
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Class Action Lawsuit Against MoCo Speed Camera Ticket Fees

Photo courtesy of
‘Traffic light’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

If you find yourself getting regularly ticketed as you go just a liiiittle too fast through Chevy Chase Village, you may be interested to know that there’s a class-action suit pending. The company that operates the cameras for the county earns a fee for every ticket issued, which sets up a financial incentive for the company to issue more tickets, and to therefore potentially fudge the camera’s calibration and sensitivity.  No one seems to be making any accusations of improper camera operation, but since some jurisdictions have been caught illegally shortening yellow lights to generate more revenue out of red light cameras, the existence of an additional financial incentive to increase the number of tickets issued seems like a conflict of interest.

Some of the Maryland jurisdictions in question are already moving to alter their contract with ACS State and Local Solutions to pay a flat fee for operation and maintenance of the cameras in order to avoid this problem in the future.

Entertainment, Foggy Bottom, Special Events, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Bellydance Superstars

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"Petite Jamilla" courtesy of Bellydance Superstars

A couple of years ago I took a bellydance class at Joy of Motion, totally on a whim. My instructor was an incredible American Cabaret style performer named Michelle Forner. I’ll never forget the first class when she did a quick routine for us and I thought, “Oh. My. God. There is NO way I will be able to do this.” The technique she displayed, with complete control in isolation of various core muscles, was intimidating and yet enthralling.

I recently decided to take the plunge again and take another bellydance class, this time in American Tribal at Saffron Dance. We’ll see how that goes! The differences between the many styles of bellydance, including the growing fusion between them and other branches of dance (such as urban, goth, bollywood, etc.) are highlighted in this year’s tour of Bellydance Superstars, which I had the luck of seeing Tuesday night at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium. The Superstars will be back in our area this June for Raqs America, and I highly recommend if you have any interest in this dance genre to definitely check it out.

Despite an overblown and cheesy opening voiceover, the 2009 tour titled “The Art of Bellydance” is a good introduction to the amazingly talented resurgence of this dance form in America. Featuring some incredible performers, exquisite costumes (more so for the tribal than the cabaret, which just isn’t to my personal taste), and the brilliant Issam Houshan on drum solo – it was two hours of beauty, pure and simple.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Night Life, The Features, The Great Outdoors, Thrifty District
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Thrifty District: Cheap Dates

Photo courtesy of
‘kisses’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

I love DC, but I really love dating in DC. Yes, dating can be expensive (especially if you’re a guy–sorry, but them’s the facts), but you really can find tons of fun, creative things to do on the cheap in and around DC.

Date idea #1: Go outside

Doing things outdoors is reliably one of my favorite ways to have a great time for very little money. You don’t have to be a star athlete to enjoy a good outdoor date, but it helps if your date is a little adventurous. There are a couple of weeks left to go ice skating in the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden, and then you can warm up with a hot chocolate in their pavilion cafe afterwards and still stay under $30 for the two of you. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Beware of Falling…Overpass?

Photo courtesy of
‘Hidden Past’
courtesy of photorat.photography’

Two lanes of Westbound US-50 are closed at Glebe Road because of falling debris from the sidewalk of the Glebe Road overcrossing. Traffic is significantly impacted, according to commenter TheDenverite, who passed through there this morning. VDOT is on the scene and will be doing an inspection shortly to determine the course of action. Staggering closures are expected while they investigate.

Special Events
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Iran So Far Away

Photo courtesy of
‘paperback’
courtesy of ‘Pete…E’

Every weekday morning I awake to the dulcet tenor of Steve Inskeep‘s voice on NPR’s Morning Edition. (What better way is there to wake up, really?) Those of you who share my love for public radio will recall that a couple of weeks ago Mr. Inskeep was on assignment in Iran to cover the 30th Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution there. As part of that coverage, two writers, Azadeh Moaveni and Azar Nafisi, discussed their memoirs of Iran, Honeymoon in Tehran and Reading Lolita in Tehran, respectively. 

Last night, the conversation about Iran continued, as Moaveni stopped by the great DC bookstore Politics & Prose to promote Honeymoon in Tehran  and discuss her experiences. As a journalist for Time Magazine, the California-born Moaveni has lived in worked throughout the Middle East. Her first book, Lipstick Jihad, was a look into the youth culture she observed in Iran in the early aughts. Despite the strict moral code of the Islamic government and the threat of enforcement by the morality police, young people in Iran — which Moaveni cited makes up some 70% of the Iranian populace — flouted the rules as if they didn’t exist period. 
Continue reading →

DC Victory Gardens, The Features
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DC Victory Gardens: An Introduction

Garden.jpeg

When food rations cut into the kitchens and pantries of the 1940s, the Department of Agriculture responded with a series of WPA posters on creating Victory Gardens to help add to the plates of Americans everywhere. The response was immense. Victory Gardens sprung up all over the United States, and a generation of vegetable farmers were created within cities and towns where they otherwise might not have. The idea of producing your own crops as a matter of patriotism and national pride swelled then, and dwindled through the 60s and 70s.

With the economy on the most drastic downturn since the Great Depression, it’s becoming an attractive option to grow food again. Frugal is the new black, they say, and what could be more frugal than growing your own food? We’ve got a few talented amateur gardeners here at We Love DC, and we’ll be doing a set of year-round features on growing your own produce, maintaining a garden even in the smallest of spaces. So, let’s introduce our participants.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, The Hill
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Inspiration DC’s Candid Strangers Project

Photo courtesy of
‘Day 58: Candid Strangers Project’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

I blog a lot about my friend Rebecca, over at Inspiration DC. She writes a local blog full of gorgeous photographs and interesting things around DC that inspire her. Her most recent project, the Candid Strangers project, gives us a peek at the heart and personalities of DC residents in a way I’ve never seen before.

Last weekend, Rebecca tied a disposable camera to a bench in Eastern Market, with a sign asking people to have fun taking pictures with it. Earlier this week she had the pictures developed and has been posting a selection of the pictures people captured on her blog all week – from a dog to an elderly man, it’s interesting to see what people are inspired to take pictures of when given a random opportunity.

Rebecca says, “It was encouraging to have such a great response to this project and to see how everyone interpreted what to take a picture of differently. I’m excited to try this project in different locations around DC and compare the type of photographs I get.”

Petworth, The Daily Feed
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We Love Georgia Avenue

 

Georgia Avenue gets a lot of grief. Some of it deserved, some of it not. Personally, I find it to be a mixed bag. You have the amazing Moroni Brothers Pizza next to greasy carry outs. But times are changing.

To help with that change, Price of Petworth has started a PoPtrekker series, where he walks through the neighbourhood to show folks what Petworth is like. In Volume 2, he’s walking down Georgia Avenue:

The idea for this video resulted from the numerous conversations I’ve had with folks who are terrified of Georgia Ave. I wanted to show that Georgia Avenue is a street like any other (during the day) and there are many spots well worth checking out.

So enjoy PoP’s video and next time your around, enjoy Georgia Avenue.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Prank War Hits Terps Game

This is just a classic prank from the folks at CollegeHumor.com. See, last year, Amir managed to prank his friend Jake at Yankee Stadium. Jake and his girlfriend were at a Yankees game and Amir put a fake proposal on the Jumbotron from Jake to his girlfriend. She flipped out, he flipped out, and they ended up breaking up, and Jake ended up getting slapped on the internet for everyone to see.

Last night at the Terps game, Jake got his revenge. He managed to prank Amir in probably just about the most cruel way: he convinced Amir he won a blindfolded half-court shot for $500,000. It’s brilliant.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Cheap Mini-Burgers For Errybody!

Photo courtesy of
‘matchbox sliders’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

Amanda over at Metrocurean tips us off to a fabulous deal at local pizzeria Matchbox. In celebration of 3/6/09, Matchbox will be offering their famous selection of mini-burgers (pictured above looking totally delish) for $3/$6/$9 accordingly. With the new location of Matchbox now on Capitol Hill, there’s even more mini-burger love to go around. (Especially since Matchbox swears a deal this good only comes around once a century.) Oh, and get there early, since Matchbox doesn’t take reservations.

Talkin' Transit, The Features
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Talkin’ Transit: Funding Galore!

Photo courtesy of
‘comfy’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Stimulus and the Silver Line

The passage of the Stimulus Package has been a source of significant criticism from the Right, and some unnatural crowing from the Left, but it represents $90 Billion dollars of federal investment in transit systems all over the United States. The DC Metro area stands to pick up a bunch of those dollars to help out with various transit projects. Currently slated are $29 million to help with the Dulles Rail corridor project, which would be welcome assistance to get the project underway.

Supervisors in Fairfax approved the design of two of the new Silver line stations: Route 123 in Tysons, and Route 7 in Tysons. While there are four stations in the confines that need approval, the vote on the other two will take place on March 9th.

Nextbus

Greater Greater Washington and DCist picked up on the fact that there was some preliminary access to NextBus information for the District bus routes, but, no good deed going unpunished, the site was pulled under orders from Metro.

Metro suggests that the site will be back this summer, and available for public use at that time. It’s sad that Metro felt the need to clamp down, despite the fact that according to all reports, the system was working “like a charm,” and providing full functionality. Of course, David Alpert nails it: “At Metro, it’s better not to provide any information than to risk giving any wrong information.”

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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A Long Overdue Facelift

Congo Embassy by maxedaperture

The Democratic Republic of Congo has finally decided to do some repairs on their dilapidated embassy.  Located on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and S Street NW, it has been a bit of an eyesore in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.  Because the city has very little control over what a country can and cannot do with their embassy, this particular one has sat in neglect and abandonment for many years, becoming a home to squatters and rats.

According to Rob Halligan (who used to hold the position of ANC Commissioner) and his sources, the work permits “call for window replacement, stucco repair, roof replacement, including revising existing terra cotta tiles, and driveway replacing.”  There is no word about whether the embassy will remain vacant after the repairs are complete.

With these improvements and a new dog park in the works, the neighborhood is really shaping up for the better.

The Daily Feed
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Speaking of Starbucks

Bang! by Samer Farha

Last week we asked you to nominate the worst Starbucks in DC and we may now be able to name the winner: the 16th & U street location.

According to (an unprofessionally titled) article by NBC, a barista “accidentally shot himself in the leg Tuesday afternoon.”  There aren’t many details about what went down, but seeing as how I go there every morning and know some of the employees there, I’ll try to get to the bottom of this.  I have a hunch who the unnamed barista is, and the I’m not surprised that he a) was packing heat or b) shot himself.

We can only hope that his days at Starbucks are over and that we can go back to drinking our coffee without living in fear of an accidental discharge from behind the counter.  There are of course no guarantees that their service will improve.

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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SUV vs. Traffic Island

Snow. It turns us into adventurers. Some of us bundle up to walk the chill, white, stormy landscape like Arctic explorers, braving wind and cold for photos or milk and bread.

And others among us get adventure by roaring out of parking spaces and skidding over slush so that our big black Nissan Pathfinder SUVs end up jumping service road traffic islands in Foggy Bottom, skidding further to straddle the traffic islands like a large, obnoxious, diagonal monorail, before finally triumphing over traffic regulations and common sense.

Snow. It also turns some of us into bemused spectators.

Music, The Features
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Concert: Tapes ‘n Tapes

Tapes 'n Tapes at Rock and Roll Hotel
Tapes n Tapes at Rock and Roll Hotel by dcjasmine

“Is anyone else sweating through their pants?”

Although it might be hard to remember with our current snowpocalypse, Friday’s Tapes ‘n Tapes show at the Rock and Roll Hotel was on an unseasonably warm night, and frontman Josh Grier was feeling the heat. As more and more people packed into the sold-out venue, he wasn’t the only one sweating through his pants (as verified by a show of hands). Continue reading →